


It's Not The End of the World

by athersgeo



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21824395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo
Summary: It's not the end of the world, Cady thinks, but it feels like it sometimes.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	It's Not The End of the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [in48frames](https://archiveofourown.org/users/in48frames/gifts).



> Characters and concepts very much not mine; all mistakes my own.
> 
> This was a fun prompt to play with - thank you!

It's Not The End of The World

It's not the end of the world, Cady thinks, but it feels like it sometimes. Being a social pariah is something she can cope with, after all that's how she started the year out anyway. Being grounded and having to do extra credit work isn't a problem either (there's even a tiny part of her that's actually enjoying the extra math - at least math makes sense). It's all the rest of it.

If she applies cold logic to it all, she can see where she went wrong. Stupid in love? More like stupid in normal teenage life. She had been cruel to a lot of people: Damian; Gretchen; Regina, even. But she'd been used, too. By Regina and by Janis.

Regina is not a surprise, queen bitch that she was. Being used by Regina George was always going to be part of the deal, one way or another. Even naive Cady can see that - could sense it before they began. 

Janis, however, is a sucker punch.

On the second day of her contemplation, Cady recognises that Janis took her desire to fit in and used it. Used her. Was not, in fact, that far removed from Regina, just lacking the pink aesthetic and the over-permissive mother.

Cady wonders if she'd have fallen for it if she'd had a more normal upbringing and then dismisses that question with a shake of her head. It's an unknowable and not worthy of any further consideration.

What is worthy of more thought is what she should do with the realisation that Regina and Janis are not so different after all.

On day three, Cady realises why Janis' behaviour hurts so much more than Regina's does: somewhere along the line, Janis' plan became Cady's way of impressing her. Of showing Janis that Cady was willing to do anything for her. Though Cady still can't work out why she did, or what she should do about it.

For a few days nothing new hits Cady, though she continues to think things through and ponder the imponderables. As far as the similarity between Janis and Regina is concerned, Cady recognises that a little of her savannah experience does actually help here: wounded animals lash out. Regina lashed out at Janis when she was afraid of Janis' feelings (existant or otherwise - Cady hasn't been able to work out if Janis did ever have romantic feelings for Regina and she suspects that even if she were to ask, Janis wouldn't ever admit the truth of the matter). In turn, Janis lashed out after being hurt by Regina. It was exactly the same behaviour for essentially the same reasons.

Cady's pleased she's been able to apply logic to an otherwise illogical situation there.

Having puzzled that much out, Cady knows she doesn't need to do anything further. Can't. Anything else there needs to come from Janis. Or Regina. Or both. Perhaps to each other first and Cady later.

Cady isn't going to hold her breath there, though!

WIth that much settled, Cady's mind turns to the other unanswered question. Just why had she been so desperate to please Janis? But that proves to be unquantifiable as far as she can see. The pieces aren't quite adding up - like an equation in math where you've written the numbers down twisted and no amount of solving will generate an answer for x.

It's frustrating, but it seems destined to remain a mystery.

Spring Fling comes and goes. That conversation with Regina - the one Cady wasn't holding her breath over - goes surprisingly well. They'll probably never be much more than casual acquaintances, but they're no longer active enemies and that's okay.

There's also a difficult conversation with Damian, after the dance, over fries and milkshakes in Denny's. Cady's awkward apologies to him are graciously accepted and by the time they're slurping the last dregs of chocolate shake, they're back on track as friends. Or perhaps genuine friends for the first time.

Damian's also promising to take her shopping to help her find her real style, as opposed to The Plastics-induced hyper-short skirts and over abundance of makeup (there will definitely be no more pink on Tuesdays!) and the old jeans and shirts that were dereigure in Africa. 

"It might be a cliche," Damian says with an air of certainty, "but you need the guidance."

Cady feels a little embarrassed that at sixteen, nearly seventeen, she can't pick out clothes without help, but she also knows he's right. And after the disaster that's been this first year in public school, she'd really like to get it right for the next one. And college. And beyond.

The one person she doesn't see at Spring Fling is Janis.

She knows Janis was there, but every time Cady tries to speak to her, Janis disappears. She mentions this to Damian afterwards and he sighs and nods.

"You and she really need to talk," he says.

"I know," Cady agrees.

"And it's not just to apologise," he continues. "What you both need is to just kiss and get it over with. Or get it on."

Cady stares at Damian, feeling a little as if a bomb's just detonated in her brain. "What?"

Damian bites down on a long French fry and smirks. "You know what I mean."

Cady babbles for a moment. Grasping for words that turn into meaningless syllables before finally managing to come up with something coherent: "I don't. I really don't. I--"

"--Love her," says Damian as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

And it is. Hearing those words spoken aloud makes Cady realise that it is the most normal thing in the world. It's also that one final answer that she's been searching for. The key that unlocks the mystery of why she went along with Janis' plans; why she was determined to make it work; why it hurt so much to realise that Janis had been using her.

"I do," Cady admits, more to herself than to Damian, who smiles all the same. "And she hates me."

Damian eats another fry and shakes his head. "For someone who can tell what a lion's thinking at forty paces, you're astonishingly bad with humans." 

Cady just looks at him, perplexed.

Damian sighs and takes pity on her. "Janis might be pissed, but she doesn't hate you. She feels guilty, at least a little. And she's a whole lot scared."

"Scared?"

Damian stabs a fry into the ketchup. "It didn't exactly go well with the last girl she fell for. What if you react the same way? For the record, I've told her, several times, that you're not Regina, but then there was that whole thing with the party."

Cady winces. That one was definitely on her if nothing else was. 

"So," Damian continues, "what you need is a plan."

"No plans. That's what got me into this mess. I've had enough of those for a lifetime," Cady cuts in with vehemence.

Damian actually laughs. "Not that sort of plan. What you're going to say, when she gets here." And before Cady can ask what Damian means, he pulls out his cellphone and starts making a call and the explanation becomes obvious.

He's calling Janis here. Now.

Cady doesn't feel remotely ready for this. She's only just had the epiphany about her feelings. Surely she needs time to analyse them. Draw conclusions. And yes, plan out what to say. And by time, she doesn't mean the fifteen minutes Damian's giving her.

Damian, for his part, just orders more fries and milkshake.

Exactly eleven minutes and forty seven seconds later, Janis arrives. She takes one look at Cady and starts to turn and leave, only for Damian to gently grab her and tow her to the table.

"Sit," he says. "Talk."

Janis glowers but now that Cady knows what she's looking for, she can see the fear and the guilt. For a split second she wonders what approach she'd take if it were a wounded lioness before her and then she recognises that maybe the simplest approach would work best.

"I'm sorry," she blurts. "I'm so sorry. Can we be kissing now?"

Janis' expression is a study. For a long, frozen moment Cady thinks she's made matters even worse. And then they are kissing. Janis' mouth is warm and soft and tastes of mint and it's utterly unlike any of the boys Cady's kissed and she doesn't want this to stop because this feels right and magical and everything that love is supposed to be.

It does come to an end, of course, because all things do. But now Janis is smiling and Damian is smiling and Cady touches the corners of her mouth because she can't believe she's smiling too without the empirical proof.

Then they're laughing and everything is right. Better. Great.

They do talk later. Properly, and without the audience that comes with a late night in Denny's, and by the time summer school starts, their friendship is strong and their relationship is stronger. They are Cady and Janis. A matched pair. 

Later - much later - Cady remembers how at first it had all felt like the end of the world. Now she knows it really wasn't. It wasn't the end of the world at all but the birth pangs of a new one. And she's perfectly okay with that.


End file.
